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THE BELLS OF LYNN 



A PAPER GIVEN BEFORE 



THE LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



DBCBMBBE lO, 1914 



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C. J. H. Woodbury, A. M., Sc. D., President 



Reprinted from the Register of the Society, Volume XVIII 



LYNN, MASS. 






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Author 

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THE BELLS OF LYNN 

By C. J. H. Woodbury, A. M., Sc. D., President, Lynn Historical Society, 
December 10, 1914. 



From time immemorial the impressive sounds of bells 
have been used to stimulate communities among all races 
sufficiently civilized to construct them ; both Christians and 
pagans have alike used bells to awaken their people to 
their various religious duties. 

In the early centuries of the Christian era, messenger 
runners (cursores) were used to call the faithful to prayer 
at houses of worship. Later, trumpets, kettle-drums and 
watchmen's rattles were used for the same purpose. 

Pagans undoubtedly preceded Christians in the use of 
bells as an adjunct to religious ceremonies. The use of 
bells in Christian churches was initiated near the end of the 
third century by St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nole, in Campania, 
Italy, which gave the Latin name to a bell. 

The first ringing of a church bell is naturally preceded 
by ceremonies appropriate to the customs of the sect. In 
churches of the Roman Catholic faith this blessing of the 
bell is conducted with impressive ceremonies, being accom- 
panied by a baptism in the church with a godfather and 
godmother, and this baptism is reserved to a bishop. 

ALARM BELLS 

Bells serve at the tocsin of war, as was the case in the 
recent declaration of war by Germany, where the ringing 
of bells all over the empire summoned men to their military 
posts. 



4 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

In England alarm bells are rung backwards, that is, 
beginning with the largest and extending to the smallest, 
giving an ascending scale of. tones. On the continent, I 
understand that they have no such custom of signals at this 
time, although it is said to have formerly prevailed, as it is 
related that the tolling of the bells backward was the tocsin 
the French first used as an alarm of fire and then for an 
uprising of the people. In the French Revolution it was 
the summons for a united attack against the Royalists. 

After Constantinople was captured by the Turks under 
Mohammed II, May 29, 1453, the conquerers forbade the 
Christians to ring the bells in their churches, lest it should 
be a signal for revolt. 

Alarms of fire or invasion and public rejoicings are all 
indicated by the ringing of bells. The fire alarm, by its 
signals of numbers, is one of the examples of concrete 
information conveyed by the ringing of bells, and one 
curious bit of its history is that Professor Moses Farmer 
had despaired of any opportunity to put his invention into 
practice when the city of Boston, outside of all precedent, 
and perhaps law, bought the local patent rights under 
virtually a promoter's contract, which it holds to this day. 

SIGNALLING BELLS 

There is" a general use of bells of which but little pub- 
licity has been made, especially in connection with light 
ships and also light-houses, where submarine bells are 
struck in foggy weather, with the numbers corresponding to 
the signals of flashes from such lights ; water being so 
superior to air as a conductor of sounds that these vibra- 
tions of the submarine bells are caught by telephones placed 
overboard from vessels and heard from far greater distances 
than would be the case with the ringing of such bells in the 
air. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 5 

A higher degree of transmission of intelligence is 
general throughout Africa, where the natives carve from 
very hard tropical woods, gigantic square bells, about four 
feet in height, in form like a magnified cowbell, and on 
these they tap out, with the bell inverted, signals in a uni- 
versal language which can be understood by various tribes 
and heard in the quiet of evening for about five miles. 

This universal language differs from their various dia- 
lects and is comparable to our Arabic system of notation of 
numbers or our method of musical writing in the extent to 
which it is understood by those speaking different dialects. 
African travelers, although they have never solved this 
method of signalling, relate in their books many instances 
of this method of communication. 

But one of the most notable instances of this method 
was that the fall of Gordon at Khartoum was known in the 
bazaars of Cairo the next day and related to the Europeans, 
who did not receive the information by couriers until about 
a fortnight later. 

CURFEW BELLS 

The old time custom of the curfew at nine o'clock is 
rapidly falling into disuse, not merely because people keep 
later hours than was the case before the present develop- 
ment of all types of artificial light, but also on account of 
the more general use of watches and clocks. I understand 
that the Second Universalist is the only Lynn church which 
continues the hand rung curfew. 

In my boyhood it was a frequent practice to go upon 
High Rock, sometimes alone and sometimes with others, at 
9 o'clock in the evening and listen to the curfews of the 
five bells then in the city on the Second Universalist, the 
First Baptist, the First Methodist, the East Baptist and St. 



6 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Paul's meeting-houses, and the blending of these curfew 
notes always made the trip to the rocky height impressive, 
and the whole effect of these swinging bells was compar- 
able to a peal. 

THE USE OF BELLS FOR PUBLIC NOTIFICATION 

Public bells in the olden times had an important 
function in the dissemination of information of the time, as 
well as summoning the people to their devotions, and before 
the general use of bells the early New England churches 
were equipped with various means of making a noise. The 
drum was in general use and also a steel triangle, such as 
is used at the piers of the Narrow Gauge ferry in time of 
fog. There have also been references to horns made from 
conch shells, and also to the use of the ram's horn, which 
they adapted from the Jewish practice. 

One of the uses of bells was that of the town crier, 
which archaic custom is still preserved in a very few rural 
communities. In Lynn the town crier for many years was 
one Harvey Downing, who abounded in eccentricities which 
made him a noted character on account of his tendency to 
practical jokes, often of the rougher kind. His hand bell 
is still preserved in another city, and it is hoped that it will 
come into the ownership of this Society as a desirable relic 
which served such an important function in the olden time. 

The general use of watches is a result of the precision 
of time necessary in railroad transportation, and there is 
not the need which formerly existed for the church bell to 
indicate the time, beyond the daily signal sent out from 
astronomical observatories, which is repeated on the bells 
and gives an opportunity for setting watches and clocks. 

In the old countries, bells were used in functions of 
royalty. They were tolled on the death of a monarch and 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 7 

pealed on the accession of the prince to the throne. "The 
King is Dead ! Long Live the King ! " The occurrence 
of the birth of a royal child was promulgated by the ring- 
ing of bells, and its sex announced by an even number of 
strokes for a prince and an odd number for a princess. 
The bells pealed for royal weddings, and their clang gave 
notice of public events. 

In this democratic country, the bells rang on election 
days as they now do on the Fourth of July. On both 
occasions the regular bell ringers were reinforced by 
enthusiastic boys, glad to unite in making a noise, and 
innumerable stories are told of the mishaps from the inex- 
perience of those who did not realize that there is a time to 
let go, as well as a time to pull on a bell rope and when 
the bell turned over they were quickly pulled up towards 
the ceiling and more rapidly let down, sitting with such an 
emphasis on the hard floor that the last state of that man 
was generally worse than the first. 

BELLS AS MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 

I believe that a bell is the only musical instrument 
which produces a number of notes from a single act and this 
volume of harmony with its far reaching effects, differing 
according to the method of ringing, awakens varying 
emotions in people over a larger expanse of territory than 
any other instrument. 

Some of the European bells are of such perfect pro- 
portion and quality of bronze as to give very long vibra- 
tions ; and as early as 1653, one of the old bell founders 
declared that a bell should give a range of three octaves. 

A bell must be in tune with itself before it can be used 
to harmonize with other bells in the same belfry. The 
fundamental note of a bell is determined by its diameter 



8 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

and the volume of sounds by its weight, but the quality or 
timbre of its tone is based upon its shape, thickness and 
alloy, all of these characteristics being dependent upon 
trade secrets of the bell founders. 

The sound of the bell is a blending of different notes, 
owing to the differences in vibration of the various portions 
of the bell in its different diameters, changing rapidly from 
circular to oval forms, and also the more complex longitudi- 
nal vibrations. The lowest note upon a bell is a relatively 
weak one, known as the drone, above which is the princi- 
pal tone, which gives the keynote of the bell, termed the 
fundamental, and there are several overtones above that. 
These various tones can be ascertained, not by striking the 
bell, but by using some keyless instrument, as a violin or 
slide trombone, near to the mouth of the bell and noting the 
synchronous response of the bell to the various pitches of 
the instrument. If these several notes on a bell are har- 
monious in their relations to each other the bell is known 
as being of a fine tone. If they are discordant, the dis- 
sonance condemns the bell as being unpleasant in tone. 
Some of these overtones are relatively weak, and a bell 
which is discordant at short range may be harmonious when 
heard from a distance beyond the reach of these harmonics. 

Although the tone of a bell is dependent upon fixed 
conditions, yet the effect of the ringing is due to widely 
different conditions, among them being the extent to which 
the sound may be muffled by restricted openings or blinds 
surrounding the belfry ; another, the height of the bell, 
permitting the sound to emerge from its mouth, and also 
the method of its suspension, as a bell which is swung gives 
very much finer results than those which are merely fixed 
and rung by a hammer, as is the case when a bell is rung 
by a fire alarm. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 9 

The racking of a tower by the swinging of a bell is very 
severe upon a structure, especially one of masonry, which 
is less able to stand the transverse stresses than one of wood, 
therefore these bell towers in the old country were generally 
separated from the main edifice. In this country the uni- 
versal use of timber in the old time structures permitted 
bracing and the bell towers were a part of the edifice. 

During the Centennial exhibition at Philadelphia in 
1876, it was my fortune to meet Professor Widdows, the 
carilloneur who rang the McShane chimes at noon, and 
during my stay of a month at that exhibition, it was my 
pactice to go up into the bell tower every noon and see him 
play the chimes ; and then he was most courteous in giving 
me information upon bells, their history, and methods of 
operation. 

VIBRATION OF BELLS 

The construction of bells has been envolved from the 
experience of centuries, and includes much that is empiri- 
cal and is generally based on what was for years a collec- 
tion of trade secrets. The sound of a bell depends upon 
vibration rather than oscillation, and the difference between 
the two is that an oscillation is based upon resultants of 
forces outside of the moving body, one of which is generally 
gravity, as is indicated by the forces used in swinging the 
clapper which is brought back by its weight ; while in the 
case of vibration, whether of the strings of a piano or violin 
or any other musical instrument, one of these forces is 
within the vibrating material by its molecular attraction 
between the various particles. 

In casting a bell, the earlier solidification of the thin 
sides of the bell presents a resistance to the contraction of 
the thicker edge and the top, and this places portions of 



IO LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

the bell under great tensile stress which is as necessary for 
its resonance as the tension on a piano wire or violin string. 

An annealed bell would be as useless as one of lead. 

The amount of this strain is indicated by the width of 
the fissure in a cracked bell, which shows the amount 
to which the metal was stretched. 

In casting a bell, the best results in its resonance are 
obtained when these internal stresses are as great as the 
metal will stand without breaking when rung, but its 
quality of tone, as stated, is based on the harmonious rela- 
tion of the overtones to the fundamental note, and appears 
to be dependent on following empirical precedents of 
proportion. 

In the construction of bells, various typical forms have 
been modified into the proportions in general use. It is 
considered by many that this process reached its height 
three or four centuries ago, and that the copper of those 
days, used in the alloy of tin and copper, was better suited 
for a resonant bronze than that of to-day. 

I believe that one of the reasons of the superiority of 
old bells is the fact that they are as they came from the 
mould, without removal of the foundry scale, which adds 
to the strength of the casting. We have in the old Spanish 
bell, known as Master King's schoolbell, shown here this 
evening, an example of the beautiful resonance of a bell as 
it came from the foundry, without any finish. 

The other reason of the quality of very old bells is one 
of natural selection. Those with too much internal stress 
have cracked, and those with too little stress have probably 
been condemned to the junk for their lack of resonance by 
some critic in their succession of owners. 

The existence of bells is largely maintained by the 
fact that they are rung for but short duration, which gives 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY II 

an opportunity for molecular rest ; no bell could withstand 
continuous ringing. Many of the cracks in bells are the 
result of long continued ringing in the enthusiasm of public 
celebrations. 

The attempts to repair the cracked bells do not result 
in the restoration of the bell to its former condition, because 
they do not reestablish the tension of the metal of the bell 
as originally cast. In old times it was the custom to saw 
or file the cracks in the bell so as to prevent the opposite 
sides of the fissure from abraiding each other, and was to 
that extent an amelioration. In later years the cracks of 
bells have been frequently closed by the various methods 
of autogenous welding, but those methods do not restore 
the resonance of the bell for the reasons above stated. The 
length of vibration of old bells cast in England is greater 
than that of the modern American bells. Dr. Arthur H. 
Nichols states that the fifth bell in the peal of Christ Church, 
Boston, which was made in England, vibrates 80 seconds, 
but he has never known a bell of American manufacture to 
vibrate longer than 30 seconds. 

As in a stringed instrument the pitch is lowered with 
a greater length of string or wire and raised with a shorter 
string or wire, as is readily noted on every piano-forte, so 
in a bell the pitch can be lowered by lengthening the bot- 
tom diameter, which increases the circumferences and 
therefore the length of this vibrating portion, and it can be 
raised by shortening the diameter, cutting away the metal 
from the outside, but the change in the note is very small. 

TUBULAR BELLS 

The tubular bells, such as are in hall clocks and some 
belfries, give one note each and can be tuned to a precision 
impossible in an ordinary cast bell, whose exact pitch is a 



12 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

matter of chance, except that it can be slightly changed as 
already stated. 

The first tubular bells were made in 1857 by Harrison 
of Conventry, England, who used steel tubes for the pur- 
pose, and these were said to have been unsatisfactory in 
the quality of their tone. The cast bronze tubular bells 
made in this country are a marked improvement in the 
quality of their tone and their accuracy of pitch when used 
in chimes, but a tubular bell with all its merits is by reason 
of its unity of tone a different instrument from the ordinary 
cast bell. 

PEALS, CHIMES AND CARILLONS 

American practice is limited almost entirely to single 
bells, but the greatest effect of bells is, of course, when 
they are operated in harmonic combination ; and as the 
various terms for groups of bells are frequently used inac- 
curately, permit me to state that a peal consists of a few 
bells in harmony with each other, so mounted that each can 
be rung from its wheel and turned over in combinations of 
sequences based upon the permutation of numbers, without 
playing any tunes, and are very frequently placed upon an 
open platform without any obstruction above the bell decks, 
and this, with the deflection of the sound waves by varying 
air currents of the wind, gives a constant variety to the 
sounds, as in an yEolian harp. 

A chime consists of bells primarily on the diatonic 
scale of one octave or a little over, with a few sharps and 
flats, so that tunes can be played upon them in several keys, 
and such bells are hung stationary, and are played by ham- 
mers operated either by hand or automatically. 

The carillons exhibit the highest phase of bell making 
and are tuned on a chromatic scale corresponding to the 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 13 

sharps and flats, as well as the natural notes of a piano, and 
number from 24 to 60 bells. The construction of carillons 
was highly developed in Europe 500 years ago and they 
abound especially in parts of Belgium, Holland and France, 
and a few in Germany. 

Many of them have recently been injured by pro- 
jectiles during the existing war, and it is considered that 
these injuries are as irreparable as though the destruction 
had been among a number of old violins. 

These carillons in Europe are not owned by the 
Church, but by the municipality in which they are placed. 
Both chimes and carillons are rung either mechanically by 
points placed upon a slowly revolving drum which engage 
wires reaching to the bells and operate hammers which 
strike on the outside of the bells, or by hand, playing the 
keys which strike the clapper on the inside of the bell, and 
the profession of carillonneur is at the present day almost a 
lost art. 

I understand that there are but two carillons in this 
country, one in St. Joseph's Cathedral, Buffalo, consisting 
of 43 bells, of which 20 were connected with a playing 
drum, when I was in the belfry over 20 years ago, and more 
than half of the bells were therefore useless. The priest 
in charge could not give me much information about them. 
There is another carillon at Notre Dame University in 
Indiana, which is smaller than the one at Buffalo, having 
32 bells, only 23 of which are connected with the drum. 

Therefore as far as being in an operative condition, it 
is within bounds of truth to state that there are not any 
carillons in this country, as these are merely in the class of 
large chimes, unless they have been brought to a condition 
of full playing equipment since the time of my information. 



14 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



AMERICAN CHIMES 



The first chime in this country was that of Christ 
Church, installed in the North End of Boston in 1745, to 
which this Society made a pilgrimage May 11, 1913. In 
his younger days, the romantic Paul Revere was one of the 
ringers, and the evidence of his interest in the subject is 
shown by the fact that he established a bell foundry in 
1792 on Lynn Street, now Commercial Street, Boston. He 
imported a bell and also sent his son, JosephW., to England 
to study the bells there. The bells in this country, with 
very few exceptions, before that time had been imported, 
and many of the earlier bells made by Paul Revere were 
criticized in comparison with the English bells. His first 
large bell was that on King's Chapel, Boston. The greater 
Lynn had four of Paul Revere's bells, the Old Tunnel, the 
First Methodist, the First Church at Reading and the High 
School at Wakefield, which is the only one in active service, 
and to all of which later reference will be made. The 
difference in shapes of the Paul Revere bells was due to 
a conflict in opinions on the subject with his son, Paul Jr., 
which caused a reorganization of the firm. 

Especially in their religious sense, bells have been the 
subject of votive offerings, either by general subscriptions 
or the gifts of the affluent, and in that connection it was a 
custom to extend their beneficence by throwing silver coins 
and silver plate into the crucible, which was done in the 
case of one of the Lynn bells to be referred to later. It is 
stated that silver does not give any improvement to the tone 
of a bell, and the fact that it is not a detriment when used is 
because there is not enough of the precious metal added to 
the alloy to produce any effect on the resonance of the bell. 

The remarkable effect of the ringing of bells in har- 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1 5 

monious assemblage, whether by peals or in carillons, is so 
well known and has been the inspiration of so much in 
poetry and in prose that any remark on the subject would 
be well nigh superfluous, but I cannot refrain from calling 
attention to the calming effect of the ringing of bells upon 
Napoleon and the impatience of that autocratic monarch 
with those who did not share his sentiments in this respect. 
It is related that on Christmas Eve, during the French 
and German war of 1870 and 187 1, when the carillon at 
St. Cloud, near Paris, pealed forth at midnight, "Peace on 
Earth, Good Will toward Men," it caused a truce in the 
firing, and the guns gave way to silence until the close of 
the ringing, when one army and then the other broke out 
in singing Christmas carols, each in its native language, for 
about an hour, and this short space which had intruded 
itself upon the hostilities then gave way to the resumption 
of war. 

POEMS ON LYNN BELLS 

The bells of Lynn have been the subject of the follow- 
ing sixteen poems, the first two of which were set to music 
composed for the occasion. 

Easter Chimes of St. Stephen's ; a carol by Rev. 
Frank L. Norton, D. D., rector, music by E. K. Weston, 
organist, sung at the Easter services, 1886, when the 
chimes were first rung, published in Lynn Reporter, April 
16, 1886. 

The Merry, Merry Bells of Lynn, Miss Nellie Miles, 
author and composer, which has been sung publicly for the 
first time this evening by Miss Lyda Belle Marsh, with 
Miss Miles at the piano. 

Two poems by English authors : the poem on the 
Bells of Lynn by John James Coulton of Lynn, Norfolk, 



1 6 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

England, read by George H. Chase at the celebration of 
the 250th anniversary of the settlement, June 17, 1879, 
published in the commemorative volume, page 67, and also 
given in the Lynn Daily Item, September 2, 191 1; and 
Bells of Lynn and Other Poems, by John R. Simms, 
England. The first poem, which gives the title to the 
book, states: "First published at Lynn, Mass., U. S. A., 
1902." 

The best known of these poems is The Bells of Lynn, 
by Henry W. Longfellow, first published in the Atlantic 
Monthly and later in the Lynn Daily Item, April 1, 191 1. 
One of the criticisms made by a purist upon this poem was 
that it should have been The Bell of Lynn, because of the 
five bells in this city at that time, only the St. Paul's bell 
could be heard at the summer residence of the author at 
Nahant. 

The other poems which have been found on the 
subject are : 

The Bells of Lynn, by Miss Annie E. Johnson of 
Nahant. 

Grandfather Buffum, by Dr. Benjamin Percival. 

Stanzas Relating to North Common Street Church 
and Bell, anonymous, Lynn Reporter, July, 1866. 

The Bells of Lynn, by Mary Lowe, Lynn Daily Item, 
August 17, 1 91 2. 

St. Stephen's Chimes, by Raymond, Lynn Daily 
Item, April 16, 1886. 

St. Stephen's Chime, Joseph Warren Nye, Lynn 
Transcript April 23, 1886. 

The Silent Bell, by Arthur Lummus, referring to the 
cracked Paul Revere bell on the First Methodist Church, 
Lynn Daily Item, February, 1914. 

The First Baptist Bell in Lynn, anonymous, Lynn 
Transcript, 1869. Ascribed to Joseph Warren Nye. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1 7 

St. Stephen's Chime, by J. Warren Newhall, Lynn 
Daily Item, April 22, 1886. 

St. Paul's Bell, by John Frank Withey, formerly of 
Lynn, but now of Los Angeles, California. 

The Bells of Lynn, by Fred E. Weatherly. 

Some of these poems were found in scrap books without 
sufficient data to give the full citation. These poems have 
all been copied to be filed with the manuscript of this paper, 
and I would very much appreciate any further information 
with copies of other poems. 

THE BELLS OF GREATER LYNN 

It appeared to be worth the while to present a state- 
ment of the bells of Greater Lynn, some of them merely 
for the record of their existence, but a few of them are con- 
nected with a phase of our history in the civic and religious 
development of the town in the growth of various sects 
based upon the belief of individuals, and the sacrifices which 
many made for the perpetuation of those lines of religious 
activities. 

As a whole these bells stand as records of development 
of the town which have hitherto escaped a presentation 
except through an occasional reference, and in this line it has 
been the purpose to include the greater Lynn of the original 
territory comprising the adjacent towns, which were fledged 
in the following order : Reading (which includes Wake- 
field), 1644; Lynnfield, 1814; Saugus, 1815 ; Swamp- 
scott, 1852, and Nahant, 1853. 

Although Cotton Mather stated that he could not cite 
any authority for calling the edifice of a religious society a 
church, as that term was limited to the ecclesiastical organ- 
ization and did not extend to the edifice, yet in the follow- 
ing citation of bells I have used without apology the ordinary 
colloquial term of church for meetinghouse. 



l8 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

OBLIGATIONS FOR ASSISTANCE 

In the preparation of the following portion of the paper, 
with the various details of the history of the bells, I have 
been obliged to rely upon many friends, and instead of 
filling the text with their names, I will place them here, 
with an expression of deep obligation for their responses, 
which have rescued many facts which might otherwise have 
escaped a permanent record. 

The greater portion of these statements are made on 
the basis of the recollection of someone or taken from notes 
which have appeared in the local papers and in many 
instances I have been obliged to judge between different 
accounts. I confess to that feeling of gratitude which is 
not merely a remembrance of favors past, but a lively sense 
of favors to come, and ask for a continuation of contribu- 
tions in the shape of corrections of any statements and more 
especially the substitutions for any errors of omission, 
which have been inevitable in the preparation of this paper. 

I am especially indebted to the following people : 

George F. Ames George S. Bliss 

Arthur S. Ashton Harry P. Bosson, Reading 

Horace H. Atherton, Jr., Charles A. Brown 

Saugus Aaron R. Bunting, Swamp- 
Luther Atwood scott 

Hon. William L. Baird, Miss Ellen Mudge Burrill 

Winchester, N. H. John Burrill 

C. W. Balton, Lynnfield William S. Burrill 

Solon Bancroft, Reading Rev. Daniel E. Burtner, 
Hon. F. P. Bennett, Jr., D. D. 

Saugus Mrs. J. A. Cain 

George E. Bennett Miss Lillian Chandler 

E. A. Bigelow, Boston Edward E. Chase 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



J 9 



J. D. H. Chester, Nahant 
Rev. Patrick Colman, 

Swampscott 
Monsieur le Vicaire Charles 

A. Cordier 
John M. Danforth, Lynnfield 

Center 
Rev. Louis DeCormis, D.D., 

Brookline 
Rev. Ernest J. Dennen 
Rev. Edward J. Dolan 
Rev. William F. Dusseault 
Mrs. Mary H. Fall 
WorthingtonC. Ford, Boston 
Samuel Gale, Cliftondale 
Fred A. Gordon 
Judge R. E. Harmon 
Rev. A. E. Harriman, D. D. 
Hon. Nathan Mortimer 

Hawkes, Saugus 
Charles F. Hawthorne 
Charles E. Haywood 
Mark W. Henry 
Warren S. Hixon 
D. W. Hoffness, Quincy 
Miss H. Maria Hood 
F. W. Howard 
Oliver R. Howe 
Miss Bertha L. Johnson, 

Nahant 
William B. Kelley 
George Everett Lane 
John S. Lawrence, Boston 



Robert M. Lawrence, M. D., 
Boston 

Miss Caroline E. Lummus 

Mrs. Lucinda Mudge Lum- 
mus 

John J. Mangan, M. D. 

Charles E. Mann, Maiden 

Moses Whitcher Mann, 
West Medford 

Charles H. Mansfield 

Charles B. Marsh 

George H. Martin 

Miss Harriet R. Matthews 

Dugald McKillop 

Meneely Bell Co. , Troy, N.Y. 

Frank Merriam, Boston 

Mrs. Frances S. Moulton 

Miss Mabelle M. Murkland 

James E. Neill 

Hon. George H. Newhall 

Howard W. Newhall 

Arthur H. Nichols, M. D., 
Boston 

Fred H. Nichols 

Sylvester H. Nourse 

William T. Oliver 

Henry C. Orcutt 

Monsieur le Cure Jean 
Baptiste Parent 

Starr Parsons 

Henry W. Pelton, Lynnfield 

Mrs. Annie S. Perkins, 
Lynnfield Center 



20 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Miss May W. Perkins, Miss Annie E. Stone 

Nahant Ernest Stuart, Saugus 

William E. Plummer, James W. Switzer 

Swampscott Henry F. Tapley 

William Popp, Saugus Rt. Rev. Mgr. Arthur J. 
F. W. B. Pratt, Reading Teeling, D. D. 

Charles F. Read, Boston Miss Alice C. Tuck 

William B. Revere, Canton Turner Tanning Machinery 
Otis B. Ruggles, Reading Co., Peabody 

Mrs. Susan A. Smith, Rev. Martin J. Welch 

Cliftondale Miss Annie E. Whittier 

Curtis L. Sopher, M. D., Mrs. Alice Newhall Wilson 

Wakefield Fred A. Wilson, Nahant 

It is to be regretted that in several instances those con- 
nected in official positions with some churches appeared to 
have but little knowledge or care of the history of the bell 
in their edifice, which represents one phase of devotion in 
its operation, and whose history is generally based upon 
the sacrificing contributions of many, and in some instances 
the beneficence of those who are in positions to make such 
contributions, as a reverential memorial to their parents or 
to their church. In several cases all of the material facts 
relative to the bells in certain churches have been obtained 
from persons entirely outside of the parish. 

BELLS IN LYNN 

In the city of Lynn there are 51 religious edifices, on 
which there are 26 bells. In the following detailed state- 
ments relative to the different bells I have used the best 
sources of information obtainable, which is for the most 
part based upon the memory of individuals and in very few 
instances something of contemporaneous record. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 21 

Information which has come to me upon the cost of the 
various bells has not been used as a measure upon which 
to estimate the cost of substituting other bells at the present 
day, as these amounts sometimes represent the cost of a 
bell and in other instances include the cost of its trans- 
portation to the meetinghouse and its being raised to the 
belfry. In many instances it is diminished by the discount for 
the junk value of the previous bell which was credited in the 
transaction, but these figures, while they do not represent 
the commercial price of a bell, are used as a measure of the 
benevolence and the sacrifices of many whose efforts were 
contributory to such a bell. 

BROADWAY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

Largely through the influence of Rev. George W. 
Mansfield and the generous act of one of the trustees of the 
church, a bell weighing 1,500 pounds and cast in India- 
napolis, Indiana, was purchased from Sears, Roebuck & 
Co., of Chicago and was placed in the belfry of the church, 
May 7, 1908, and rung for the first time on Sunday, May 
12, 1908. 

DYEHOUSE, WYOMA 

The old dyehouse, on the Flax Pond side of the 
causeway constituting the dam at the outlet of Sluice Pond, 
and which gave the name of Dyehouse Village to the 
portion of Lynn now known as Wyoma, had a bell. It is 
related that many years ago, but within the memory of 
those now living, some boys, in the spirit of hilarity, pro- 
cured this bell one evening, and on being pursued by 
members of the old hand fire engine company, whose 
house was diagonally opposite on Broadway, they took the 
bell into a boat on Sluice Pond, and as the pursuit con- 



22 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

tinued in other boats, they threw the bell overboard into 
the pond, where it still remains. 

EAST BAPTIST CHURCH 

The bell and its predecessors have received reference 
under the head of the First Universalist Church, the orig- 
inal owners of that property. 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH 

The first meetinghouse of this society was the original 
meetinghouse of the First Methodist Church, which was 
the first of this sect in New England, and was bought and 
moved from the east end of the Common to the westerly 
end on Ash Street at the rear of the Mildred Range near 
Market Square and on land purchased from the First Con- 
gregational Society by this Baptist Society, May 25, 1815. 
The building was afterwards used for a Grammar School 
and with the land was sold to St. Mary's Roman Catholic 
Parish, November 25, 1855, being the first of this sect in 
Lynn. The building was enlarged and reconverted to 
religious purposes, for which it was used until its destruc- 
tion by fire, May 28, 1859. 

The second meetinghouse, corner of Park and North 
Common streets, was built and dedicated in February, 
1833, and contained a clock and a bell. This clock was 
purchased from Josiah Willard of Boston in 1835 and was 
the first public clock in Lynn. 

Little is known of this bell excepting that it was paid 
for by the ladies of the congregation, who worked binding 
shoes for this purpose, and it probably represented a greater 
amount of personal self sacrifice than that of any bell in the 
city. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 23 

This clock and bell were not included in the sale of 
the edifice in 1866 to Stephen Oliver, Jr., who removed 
the bell tower, cut the building in two, and these two parts 
were moved to the junction of Central Avenue and Wash- 
ington Street, where they were joined together and the 
building converted into a shoe factory. On account of the 
reunion of the two parts of the building, the jokers of the 
town gave Mr. Oliver, whose religious beliefs, if any, 
should be classified as agnostic, considerable personal 
trouble and embarrassment by the persistent story that he 
had "joined the Baptist Church." 

The bell and clock were moved into the third meeting- 
house on the same site, corner North Common and Park 
Streets, which was dedicated June 20, 1867. This spire 
was blown over, penetrating the chapel and causing con- 
siderable destruction to the building in a gale which occur- 
red late in the afternoon of September 8, 1869. A new 
spire was built, repairs made, and the church rededicated 
October 8, 1870. The old bell survived this fall and was 
replaced in the bell tower, as also was the clock, to which 
considerable repairs were necessary. 

This clock was replaced by another clock installed by 
the E. Howard Clock Company, September 21, 1906, and 
was paid for by the City of Lynn. 

This bell was afterwards cracked and Warren S. 
Hixon, who was at that time superintendent of the Sunday 
School, passed around a subscription paper and raised 
$300, which, with the help of the old bell, secured the 
present bell, which was raised November 21, 1878, which 
weighs about 2,800 pounds and whose fundamental note is 
A. The bell bears the inscription : Holbrook, East 
Medway, Mass., 1878. 



24 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

(Second Meetinghouse, Lynn Common) 

As a part of the Puritan theocracy, the history of a 
New England town centers around the church, as repre- 
senting civic government and polemic religious contro- 
versies. But little is known of the first meeting-house, except 
that its site was at what is now known as 244 Summer 
Street, being about 150 feet to the east of Shepard Street, 
on the side of Summer Street toward the harbor. The 
exact site of the building is the rear part of the main body 
of the dwelling, which is placed upon the same foundations 
as the original meetinghouse, which was later moved to 
Harbor Street and thence to Sea Street, having been 
changed into a tenement and afterwards burned. 

The second meetinghouse was built on the Common, 
to the west of the present flag pole. The hipped roof of 
the building had a bell deck, which was flat in the middle 
and covered with lead in 1699. The bell was in the open 
on this roof for 69 years, and the bell rope did not come 
down in the middle, but a little one side, reaching a small 
enclosure about half the size of a pew, on the left hand 
side of the middle aisle. This position of the bell ringer 
contradicts the story that a lady's ribs were broken by the 
protruding elbow of the bell ringer, if she was in the aisle 
and the slave who was used as sexton was in his proper 
place in the enclosure. 

Although nothing is known of the origin of the bell, 
the only reference to it is contained in the diary of Judge 
Samuel Sewell, Collections Massachusetts Historical Soci- 
ety, Volume IV, Fifth Series, page 352. 

"November 10, 1691, council of churches meet at Lin. 
. Had much adoe to prevail with the church to 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 25 

own us as a council, but they did do it at last; heard what 
was to be said, drew up our advice by Mr. Cotton Mather : 
Wherein all parties (were) blamed ; they accepted of it and 
thank'd us heartily for our visiting them." 

" Bell was rung both times before (we) went into (the) 
meeting-house." 

The manuscript of the diary of Cotton Mather is in 
possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, but this, 
unfortunately, does not contain his diary for the year 1691, 
the existence of which is not as yet known, as there is a 
gap in the series from 1686 to 1692. There is not found 
any further reference to the bell until 1699, when the 
parish voted to send it to England in exchange for a new 
one. 

In 1771 the parish voted that "the ornament designed 
by Mr. (Timothy) Walton as a belfry should be built," and 
it was this addition upon the top of the building, covering 
the old bell deck, which was conical and with an upright 
rod upon which there were three balls of gilded wood, the 
largest being about 18 inches in diameter, which gave to 
the building its time-honored name of the " Old Tunnel." 

The news of the Peace of Ghent, December 24, 1814, 
and also of the Battle of New Orleans, which had been 
fought about a month after that consummation of peace, 
reached Lynn by a courier bound from Boston to Salem on 
February 13, 181 5, and was announced by the ringing of this 
bell, which was done with such long continued energy that 
the bell was cracked. The bell was recast by Paul Revere 
& Son, November 19, 1816, and is known on his stock 
book as No. 171. It weighed 905 pounds and the clapper 
weighed 24 pounds. 

There is not on the parish records any vote or other 
action indicating an order for this bell, or any action pre- 



26 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

liminary to the bell, although, as stated in the account of 
the First Methodist Church, it is known from other sources 
that the bell was selected by Amos Blanchard, the pre- 
centor. 

If the parish records do not contain anything in regard 
to the ordering of the bell, they are replete for six years 
with legislation upon paying for the bell, which reminds 
one of -/Esop's fable of the mice voting to place a bell upon 
the cat. The records of the various actions upon the bell> 
although entirely clear, indicate that the account had sur- 
vived the versatile Paul Revere four years, and at the time 
of the final payment in 1822 of $198.18 to Joseph W. 
Revere, the son of Paul Revere, in settlement, the total 
cost of the bell was $499.18. The price of other bells 
made by Paul Revere at about that date was 45 cents per 
pound, and the cost of mounting and setting up was 
generally $75, which in this case would bring the amount 
to $482. The Treasurers' accounts for six years abound in 
charges of sixpence, or nine cents, for letters which Mr. 
Revere sent collect, and if these dunning letters could be 
found they would undoubtedly be choice additions to any 
autograph collections. 

Neither do the parish records contain any reference to 
the sale of the cracked old English bell of 1699, and I have 
been informed that there is no reference to its being 
credited as old bell metal on the books of Paul Revere. 
It may be that the procrastination in settling the account 
may have served its purpose in some compensation for 
interest during these six years during which this trans- 
action remained an open account. 

This bell continued in service and the "Old Tunnel " 
was moved to the corner of South Common and Commer- 
cial Streets, April 11, 1827, by Capt. Joseph A. Lloyd, 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 27 

by means of ten yoke of oxen, driven by David Harwood* 
The old belfry which gave its name to the "Tunnel" was 
left on its side on the Common, sold at auction, April 23, 
1827, and had an independent record of its own until 
destroyed by fire 22 years later. 

Among the numerous changes and enlargements of 
the Old Tunnel was the construction of a new belfry, which 
closely resembled that of the First Baptist Church diago- 
nally opposite on the Common, and the Paul Revere bell 
was elevated to these new surroundings. 

The First Congregational Society built another church 
in 1836, and the sale, on February 14, 1837, °f tne build- 
ing, of which the " Old Tunnel " serves as the nucleus, 
transfers the further history of its bell to that of the Second 
Universalist Church. 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

(Corner South Common and Vine Streets) 

When the frame meetinghouse on the present site on 
the corner of Vine and South Common Streets was built 
in 1836, a subscription for a bell was started, but they failed 
to raise a sufficient amount. The matter was taken up anew 
by the writer 42 years later for the present brick meeting- 
house, which replaced the one which was burned December 
25, 1870, when six of the original subscribers who were 
then living honored their subscriptions, and also the son of 
one and the widow of another paid the amounts which had 
been subscribed. 

This bell weighs 2,250 pounds and cost $640. It was 
raised to the belfry March 28, 1878, but its ringing was 
deferred until April 4, on the ocasion of a special service 
which was held in the meetinghouse. It bears the inscrip- 
tion : Cast by William Blake & Co., formerly H. N. 



28 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Hooper & Co., Boston, Mass., A. D. 1878. Presented to 
the First Church, Lynn, by the Sabbath School. 

FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

This bell was cast by Paul Revere & Son, November 
15, 1816, and is known as No. 165 on Paul Revere's stock- 
book. The weight of the bell is 1,004 pounds and the 
tongue weighs 28 pounds. This bell was raised to its 
position in the old meetinghouse by Daniel David Clark. 
Both this bell and that of the First Congregational Church 
in the Old Tunnel were selected by Amos Blanchard, a 
musician in the army of the Revolution, and the precentor 
of the Old Tunnel for many years, of whose correctness 
of musical ear so many stories are rife that it is suspected 
that he was one of the few who were gifted with that 
delicacy of hearing known as absolute pitch. The note of 
this bell was said to be B flat, but when tried by a tuning 
fork was found to be nearly half a tone higher, or a very 
little below B natural. 

The Old Tunnel bell and this one were dedicated on 
the same day, and there is a persistent tradition that the 
occasion was accompanied by a dedication dinner, at 
which the Methodist Society furnished the food and the 
Orthodox the rum ; but there is nothing on the records of 
the Treasurer of the First Church indicating the use of 
any funds in that connection, whether for rum or any other 
purpose, and I understand that there is nothing on the 
Methodist account books to indicate expenditures for any 
such feast. 

This bell was paid for very largely by cordwainers in 
the congregation, who made shoes for the benefit of the 
bell fund, of which the original detailed statement is still in 
existence. In the abstract the sales amounted to $462.38 ; 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 29 

the expenses, including charge for storage and commission, 
$36.70, leaving a balance of $425.68, to which should be 
added a credit for 70 pairs of unused shoes, $38.50, and 
the balance of J. Mudge's account of bell money, $82.88, 
making a total of $517.06. 

At a meeting of the pew owners on April 29, 1822, it 
was voted "that money which was signed for the bell, that 
the overplus be appropriated to pay for the burying ground 
fence, which the Society is owing for ; " and " to have a 
committee of three to examine Benjamin Oliver and John 
Mudge concerning the bell money." This last vote is 
probably an equivalent of the present universal provision 
for an audit, as the accounts submitted by John Mudge are 
clearly stated in great detail and bear every evidence of 
accuracy. 

Capt. Joseph Mudge, a brother of this John Mudge, 
"went privateering" in the War of 1812, bringing three 
prizes into Lynn Harbor, one of which was a square rigged 
ship, laden with ship timber from Canada, bound for 
England. This timber was sold in Lynn at a very low 
price, a part of it being used for the Second Church of this 
Society, which is now Lee Hall. 

At that time the Friends' meetinghouse was being 
built, and these non-combatants very properly condemned 
the use of the spoils of war for a house of God. Never- 
theless, the contractor for that meetinghouse bought a lot 
of this timber, with the stipulation that it should be 
delivered between midnight and three o'clock in the morn- 
ing. 

This story of the use of captured ship timber had not 
been forgotten in 1824, when it became necessary to lower 
the bell deck and portions of the steeple 16 feet, on account 
of the swaying produced by ringing the bell. 



30 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

When the old church was changed over into Lee Hall, 
the bell was lowered and raised into its present position in 
the new brick church of the Society, on February 15, 1879, 
and dedicated on February 27, 1879. 

June 11, 191 1, this bell was found to be cracked, and 
the crack was filled by one of the autogenous welding 
processes, but the position of the bell on its yoke was not 
changed by turning the bell a quarter of the way around 
and another crack formed by the extension of the old crack 
occurred three months later, and the bell has been out of 
commission since that time. 

It would not be expected that a paper on the subject of 
bells could contain any references to action of the members 
of the Friends' Society in this respect, but several of them 
were very actively engaged in tolling this bell December 
2, 1859, when all of the church bells in the city were tolled 
on the occasion of the hanging of John Brown, and this 
incident is the foundation of the dramatic poem of Grand- 
father Buffum, by Benjamin Percival, which has been cited 
in this paper. 

FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH 

(Union Street Edifice) 

The original church on Union Street was built under 
a contract, now in possession of the Lynn Historical Society, 
written in 1834, but not executed until February 22, 1835. 
The deed of the land bears date of September 13, 1834. 

The first bell was installed in September, 1835, anc * 
weighed 2,058 pounds. In July, 1841, this bell cracked 
and a new piece was set in, but the repaired bell was not 
satisfactory and a new bell was purchased of Henry N. 
Hooper & Co. of Boston, October 29, 1841. This bell 
weighed 1,874 pounds, the tongue weighed 35 pounds, the 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 3 1 

whole cost being $463.16, against which was a credit for 
2,058 pounds in the heavier old bell of $370.44, leaving a 
balance of $92.72, which was paid October 29 of that 
year, the same date as the bill. 

A third bell, cast by Henry N. Hooper & Co., weigh- 
ing 1,798 pounds, was procured in 1866. 

In 1836 a steeple clock with four dials, the gift of 
citizens, was bought of Aaron Willard, Jr. of Boston, and 
cost $312 and was paid for in full January 12, 1837. This 
clock was made in 1835, an< ^ * s tne oldest public clock in 
the city. The church was deeded by the First Universalist 
Society to the Free Baptist Society, October 6, 187 1, to the 
Deacons of the East Baptist Church, November 4, 1875, 
and by them to the East Baptist Society, the present owner, 
February 3, 1893. The clock and bell being obtained as 
the result of general subscription, they were not included 
in the deed, but were covered by a bill of sale. 

The clock, like many house clocks of Aaron Willard 
which are held so precious by their owners, is still in 
service and complies with the guarantee of the maker, 
made nearly eighty years ago ; although about fifty years 
ago the clock deviated from the regularity of its course and a 
person in that neighborhood who, like Mr. Partington, 
"enjoyed bad health," and was afflicted with insomnia, 
declared that it once caused the bell to ring 132 times at 
midnight. Others of the community were agitated by the 
supposition that it was an alarm of fire. The gale of 
September 8, 1869, which overturned the spire of the First 
Baptist Church, caused the tower of the First Universalist 
Church to sway materially and in synchronism with the 
tongue of the bell, acting as a pendulum swinging higher 
and higher, like children pushing others at a swing, until 
it caused this bell to ring continuously during the 
remainder of the gale. 



32 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH 

(Nahant Street Edifice) 

In addition to the history of the succession of bells in 
the original meetinghouse, own owned by the East Baptist 
Church, it should be said that the present meetinghouse 
contains a tubular chime, which is played from the key- 
board of the organ, and is suited for direct application to 
the music at the religious exercises in the Church ; but 
these are not in the nature of public bells, excepting that 
these chimes can be heard in the immediate vicinity. 

THE JAPANESE BELL 

At the time when Commodore Perry was making a 
second visit from Hong Kong to Japan with his fleet to 
receive the answer of the Mikado of Japan to the proposi- 
tion of the President of the United States for a treaty, 
Captain Clement P. Jayne, for many years a resident of 
Lynn, was at Hong Kong, captain of the clipper ship Game- 
cock, owned by Russell & Co., and he followed the fleet 
to Japan, but Commodore Perry would not allow him to 
enter port in advance of the consummation of the treaty, 
and so he kept his vessel "off and on" outside of the port 
until he heard the salutes announcing the opening of Japan 
to the world, when he entered the port and was the first 
American merchant ship to make an entry into Japan. 

His many valuable curios and relics are in the houses 
of numerous friends, but among them was perhaps nothing 
of greater curiosity than a bell such as was used in a 
Shinto Temple. 

This bell differed very radically from those in use by 
the western nations, being in form very much like a 
modern projectile, cylindrical, and closing to a point at the 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 33 

top. It was a beautiful piece of bronze work, nearly three 
feet high, having a light green patina and smoothly finished 
with complicated ornamentations, which were divided into 
sections by lines of projecting balls, over half an inch in 
diameter and it was swung from the center of an archway 
made of a pair of jawbones of a whale, separating the lawn 
from the central walk in his garden at Captain Jayne's 
residence, 82 Center Street. 

This bell did not have any tongue, but was rung by 
being struck with a padded stick, but we boys, in default 
of that, used to fire pebbles to awaken the long continued 
resonance of the bell. 

After Captain Jayne had retired from the sea he was 
in the service of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and later 
was superintendent of the Sailors' Snug Harbor at Quincy. 
He long survived his family at Lynn, but I have not been 
successful in my endeavors to obtain further information 
upon this bell. 

LAKE SHORE PARK METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

The bell on this church was presented by the Turner 
Tanning Machinery Company of Peabody, many of whose 
people were very much interested in this church. It was 
first rung on Saturday, May 10, 1913, by Rev. Alonzo 
Sanderson, who many years before was interested in the 
bells at Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church at the extreme 
western end of the city. 

This is the oldest bell in service in any church in the 
city, and weighs about 300 pounds. It came in a lot of 
scrap metal, which was bought by the company about 1905 
and was saved on account of its evident value for other pur- 
poses, and was finally presented as above. It was raised 
by William E. Winslow. 



34 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Inscription : Cast by G. H. Holbrook, Medway, Mass., 

1835- 

THE LYNN ACADEMY BELL 

The Lynn Academy occupied a building erected for 
the purpose on the site now known as 170 South Common 
Street, and was opened April 5, 1805, on which occasion a 
bell was presented by Colonel James Robinson. 

This James Robinson was born on February 27, 1757, 
and died January 21, 1832. 

He served in the Continental army as a private, accord- 
ing to Sanderson. The contemporaneous obituary notice 
calls him Captain, and Lewis refers to him as Colonel. He 
lived on the northeast corner of Boston and Federal Streets, 
and was the first postmaster on the establishment of a post- 
office at Lynn in 1793. He was a member of the Legislature 
from 1796 until 1802. 

Dr. George H. Martin does not mention in his paper 
on the Lynn Academy, James Robinson among incorpo- 
rators or stockholders, and there does not appear to be any- 
thing of record to indicate the cause of his marked interest 
in the institution. 

The Lynn Academy was without funded endowment 
and this lack of reserve resources made it unequal to meet 
conditions of financial stress and brought its mission to a 
close ; and the higher education in the town was under- 
taken by the Lynn High School, which was opened on 
May 28, 1849, Jacob Batchelder, the last preceptor of the 
academy, becoming the first principal of the high school. 

The academy building was sold to Mark Healey and 
moved on October 30, 1852, to Western Avenue, on the site 
of the easterly corner of the tannery of Lucius Beebe & 
Sons. In this place the first story was used for many 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 35 

years as a saloon by Benjamin Hitchings and the second 
story as a billiard room. 

It was later moved to Elm Street to about the site of 
the residence of Edward D. Dearborn, being No. 24. 

After a short time, its last removal took the building 
to the corner of Center Street and Western Avenue, where 
it was used as a paint shop by William L. Baird, now of 
Winchester, N. H., until it was torn down a few years 
ago. 

During some of these mutations, the eagle, carved by 
Samuel Mclntyre of Salem, which had surmounted the 
cupola, was removed and placed on the ridgepole of 
Trevitt Rhodes' barn on Boston Street, and after many 
years it was kept in a storehouse on South Street, and 
thence removed to the portico of this Society House. 

The last positive information in regard to the bell is 
that on March 12, 1856, a festival was given in Exchange 
Hall in honor of Jacob Batchelder, who had resigned as 
principal of the Lynn High School to take a similar 
position in Salem. About 550 were present, mostly old 
Lynn Academy pupils. 

The eagle which formerly surmounted the cupola of 
the Academy building was on the orchestra gallery 
and below it hung the Academy bell which had been 
obtained by George Huzzey Chase, and before the exer- 
cises began the bell was rung as the signal for the entrance 
of the party into the hall, as it had rung to call the pupils 
of the Academy to their duties. This bell was later carried 
in at least one Calithumpian procession on a Fourth of July 
morning. This appears to end the positive information 
which has been obtained relative to the bell. 

It is the belief of a resident of that portion of the city 
that it was stored in the Town Hall, which was situated on 



36 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

the site of the easterly portion of St. Stephen's Church, but 
the city messenger of that date, who was then in his boy- 
hood days, was thoroughly acquainted with all portions of 
the building and declares that the bell was not in that build- 
ing at the time of the fire, October 6, 1864. There are also 
numerous other stories in regard to the disposition of the 
bell, but I have been unable to find anything of a confirm- 
atory nature. 

As there are many residents who were living in Lynn 
at that time, it is hoped that some of them will give informa- 
tion relative to the further history of this bell, which was 
the first in Lynn subsequent to the two English bells upon 
the Old Tunnel. 

LYNN CHESTNUT STREET ENGINE HOUSE 

This bell is connected with the fire alarm and bears 
the inscription : 

Vickers Sons & Co., Limited, 

Sheffield 

Patent Cast Steel 

1871. 

LYNN CITY HALL BELL 

This is the largest bell in the city, weighing 4,837 
pounds, and was hoisted to its position by David H.Jacobs 
of Boston, March 2, 1872. It bears the inscription: 

Troy Bell Co., Jones & Co., 

Troy, N. Y. 

1872. 

This bell is hung stationary and rung by strokes of the 
fire alarm apparatus and also strikes the hours of the clock 
installed by the E. Howard Clock Company in 1867. When 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 37 

the City Hall was built, it was planned that these clock dials 
should be of glass and illuminated by gas jets on the 
inside, but this was never carried into effect. In recent 
years the dials were illuminated by an original method 
invented by one of the city government, by which incan- 
descent electric lights with reflectors illuminate the clock 
dials at night, but the lights are not visible. This method 
of illumination has since been adopted for many other 
public clocks. 

It is not considered that this bell gives that fullness of 
tone which would have been obtained if it had been swung. 

LYNN FEDERAL STREET FIRE ENGINE HOUSE 

This building has a steel bell without inscription, 
purchased in Cincinnati, Ohio, ten years ago, and is con- 
nected with the fire alarm. 



This is undoubtedly the oldest bell and of the rarest 
type ever in Lynn, being an old Spanish bell formerly in 
a South American convent, probably at Valparaiso, from 
which it was taken by one of the crews of the Lynn 
whaling fleet which docked at the Fox Hill Wharf, which 
was built for this industry on the Saugus River at the east 
side of Western Avenue. 

The Lynn Whaling Company removed to Boston after 
the Eastern Railroad bridge was built across the river, and 
the wharf was used for many years by William M. Newhall, 
dealer in coal and lumber, and is now dismantled. 

The crews of these whalers were largely Lynn men 
and on their return from voyages they related to the boys 
of the town wondrous tales of adventure, especially their 



38 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

roistering at Hawaii, Valparaiso, Pernambuco and Bahia, 
all of which were called by familiar nicknames. 

These hilarities reached their climax the night before 
sailing, when such souvenirs were gathered in as oppor- 
tunity and the remissness of the police permitted. 

This bell was brought back from one of these voyages 
in one of the three vessels, two of whose paintings are on 
the wall back of this platform, with the story that it was 
obtained in a night foray on a convent ; and it should be 
remembered that in those countries bells were not hung in 
belfries, but in holes made in gable walls, which were 
readily scaled by sailors. The bell remained on the wharf 
but a short time, as Isaiah Breed, chairman of the trustees 
of the Lynn Whaling Company, and a member of the first 
board of directors of the Eastern Railroad Company, pre- 
sented it to the railroad and it was placed in a cupola on the 
top of the station in Lynn, and rang when the railroad 
began operations, August 28, 1838; and they continued 
the custom of ringing this bell ten minutes before the arrival 
of trains during the next ten years, when the original depot 
was sold and moved with its bell to what is now 63 New- 
hall Street. 

Its first use on this site was as a private school 
kept by Miss Helen Attwill ; and then it became an 
industrial pioneer as the first stitching shop in this city, 
until this business was moved to more convenient quarters 
in the shoe manufacturing district. It may be noted that 
the new industry, now known as a stitching shop, had not 
then received a name and the building was then known as 
a shoe bindery. 

About this time the bell was sold to the city, and the 
building was moved over the land boundaries to 71 Saga- 
more Street, where it was used first as a tenement and then 
finally as a storehouse before it was torn down. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 39 

The bell next appeared in the belfry of the Ward 
Four grammar schoolhouse on School Street, which was 
dedicated on June 25, 1853, where it was in use for many 
years, during the principalships of Samuel W. King, B. 
F. Morrison and Timothy G. Senter. 

The people of the neighborhood, which had become 
more densely populated, objected to the frequent ringing 
of this bell and its use was discontinued, and it was after- 
wards taken down and stored in the basement of the 
schoolhouse. The next movement of this traveler occurred 
when it was bought by Arthur S. Ashton and hung by him 
on the roof of his shop in the yard of his father's home on 
Essex Street, near Porter Street, and equipped with an 
electric ringing attachment which struck at a quarter of 
twelve each day for the benefit of the neighborhood. 

When Mr. Ashton established his jewelry store on 
Union Street, opposite Green Street, this bell was taken 
dow r n and placed in the store as a curiosity. 

When here it attracted the attention of William Stone, 
who learned that it was the "Master King's schoolbell," 
and bought the bell for its sentimental associations with his 
boyhood days, when it summoned himself and his mates 
to the sessions and intruded its sonorous authority to break 
up the games at recess. 

This bell weighs nearly 150 pounds, and its pitch was 
determined a few days ago to be E flat by Miss Lillian 
Chandler with her violin. 

Samuel Warren King (born September 24, 1815, died 
June 28, 1857) m ust have been a man of great force of 
character to impress upon his pupils during his long term 
of service the spirit of cooperation and loyalty, for the 
organization known as Master King's Schoolboys con- 
tinues to this day, and the veterans still meet at stated 



4° 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



times, and like the great Arnold of Rugby, " never forget 
that they were boys." 

William Stone gave this bell to Master King's School- 
boys and it served as the oriflamme of the association as 
being the only material commemoration of school days. 

The association, being without any fixed headquarters, 
gave this bell to the Lynn Historical Society in 1905, feel- 
ing assured that in this custody it would be kept in per- 
petuity. 

If this medieval bronze, instead of being silent save to 
emit its own notes in response to the blow of its clapper, 
had been endowed with the power to make a record of its 
experiences and to reveal them as a phonograph, what a 
romance of history would be given ! Cast in a Spanish 
foundry near enough to the middle ages to share in the 
excellence of bell-founding when that craft was at its 
height, and with unknown experiences in that country, 
then mistress of the world, sent forth with the blessings of 
the church to that new world which Columbus had given to 
Castile and Aragon. Then in its convent gable it called 
to their devotions the sisterhood consecrated to poverty, 
chastity and obedience, only to fall from its lofty perch in 
a two-fold sense by surreptitious acts to sound the watches 
of an old time whaler. 

In this town its tones were leading in their develop- 
ment of much of the progress of the century. First it 
shared in the railroad development, which recast our 
methods of living ; then the manufacture of shoes, which 
has replaced the cordwainer with all the economic changes 
which this involved ; after that its part in primitive methods 
of education, followed by the later development of the pub- 
lic system, whose beneficent force as a bulwark of demo- 
cratic government is like unto that vote of the Roman 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 41 

Senate, " to see that the republic suffers no harm ; " and 
finally through its connection with electricity it became a 
part of that science whose fundamentals verge upon the 
unknown, but whose applications are most simple in the 
reconstruction of methods of life. 

But this bronze makes no disclosures of any of the 
sphinx riddles of its career. 

NORTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 

The bell was presented by Mrs. Miriam Whiton 
Opdyke of New York, a sister of Rev. James Morris 
Whiton, Ph. D., the first pastor of this church, in 1870; 
cast by E. Holbrook & Son, East Medway, Mass. ; weight, 
1,507 pounds; dominant note, G; cost nearly $600. 

PICKERING SCHOOLHOUSE 

This bell is now used only in connection with the city 
fire alarm. The inscription on the bell is : 

C. T. Robinson & Co. 

Boston, Mass. 

1889. 

PINE GROVE CEMETERY BELL 

The original Pine Grove Cemetery bell was a Louisi- 
ana plantation bell captured at New Orleans, by the Federal 
troops, under General B. F. Butler, during the Civil War, 
and was dated 1853. It passed into the hands of Joseph 
Moulton, a noted collector and antiquary of his day, who 
mounted it on wheels and it was carried in street processions 
in Lynn during the last part of the Civil War. Mr. Moulton 
presented this bell to the trustees of Pine Grove Cemetery 
and it was hung in the storehouse, which was destroyed 
by fire in 191 1. 



42 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

The same year a new bell, weighing 150 pounds, was 
purchased and hangs in the new storehouse and bears the 
inscription : Meneely & Co., Troy, New York, 191 1. 



ST. JEAN BAPTISTE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 

The bell on this church was given by the three parish 
societies, cooperating together for the purpose : La Societe 
St. Jean Baptiste, le Conseil Jacques Cartier and les 
Artisans. The bell arrived November 26, 1903, and was 
blessed by the Rt. Rev. Mgr. Paul Larocque, bishop of 
Sherbrooke, Canada. It bears the following inscriptions, 
surmounted by a cross : 

Cantate Domino (Sing to the Lord) 

A monogram 

Pius Joannes Joseph 

(Pius in honor of the Pope, Pius X, Johannes Joseph, the 

given names of the late Archbishop Williams of Boston.) 

J. Baptista Anna 
(The first two being the given names of Reverend Pere 
Jean Baptiste Parent, the Cure of the church, and the third 
name for St. Anna, the patron saint of Canadian mothers.) 
The weight of the bell is 1,500 pounds and its note F. 
It was cast at the McShane Foundry, Baltimore, Md. 

st. Joseph's roman catholic church 

This bell was presented by Rev. J. C. Harrington, 
who devoted to this purpose a testimonial given to him in 
honor of his silver jubilee, or 25 years in the priesthood. 
It was blessed with imposing ceremonies on Sunday, 
August 30, 1896, the service being conducted by Rev. J. 
C. Harrington, P. R., assisted by Fathers Patrick Colman 
and E. J. Dolan. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 43 

The bell was cast by the Blake Bell Company of 
Boston, weighs nearly 3,200 pounds and is D natural in 
pitch. The bell is 40 inches high and the yoke weighs 
800 pounds and the tongue 50 pounds. It is rung by an 
eight-foot wheel and is well mounted, so as to emit its 
tones in a most satisfactory manner. On one side it bears 
the inscription : 

Blake Bell Co. 

In Memory of the 

Silver Jubilee of the Pastor, 

Rev. J. C. Harrington, 

June 3, 1896. 

The other side bears the relief of a cross, the words, 

Boston, Mass, 1896, with the seal of the trustees, and below, 

St. Joseph's Church, Lynn, Mass. 



(Polish Roman Catholic) 

Two bells cast by Meneely & Co., Troy, N. Y. One 
weighs 250 pounds and the other 530 pounds. Dedicated 
July, 1910, and these inscriptions correct a very general 
belief in the vicinity that these bells were made in Poland 
and imported to this country at very great expense. 



This church had its first bell, which weighed 800 
pounds, in 1834, anc * also a clock bought from Mr. Willard 
of New Bedford. This bell was considered insufficient, and 
Richard Richards obtained subscriptions for the purchase 
of a bell twice as heavy. This second bell was destroyed 
in the fire which burned the church November 20, 1859, 
and the third bell, whose fundamental note is E and 
weighs 2,300 pounds, was procured in ten days. 



44 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

The committee entrusted with the purchase of this bell 
was obliged to obtain one already made and selected this 
one on account of its tone. It is evident from the inscrip- 
tion that it was made for a Roman Catholic Church and 
the committee in their desire for a prompt delivery waived 
the defects in casting of the inscription and this purchase 
enabled the founders to try again on the casting. None of 
the committee are living, but a man who was sexton of a 
church in the vicinity states that the bell was originally 
cast for a chime, but was not used on account of the devia- 
tion of its fundamental note from the desired pitch. 

While the new church was being built, the present bell 
was placed upon a temporary framework, which constituted 
to that extent the only bell tower ever in Lynn. The bell 
was installed in the new church in time to be rung at its 
dedication August n, 1861. The inscription on this bell 
is: Henry N. Hooper & Co., Boston, 1859; below which 
is the following Latin stanza in Old English letters : 

Laudamus te, benedicimus te, 
Adoramus te, glorificamus te, 
Gratias agimus tibi 
Propter magnam gloriam tuam. 

The casting, however, is very imperfect, and when it 
was being made some of the letters and nearly the whole 
of the third line in the mould were washed away by the 
molten metal, but enough remains for its completion as 
given above, which has been translated: 

We praise Thee ! We bless Thee ! 
We adore Thee ! We glorify Thee ! 
We give thanks to Thee 
For thy great glory. 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 45 

This is a paraphrase of the Gloria in an old mass, of 
which a full exposition may be found in the Catholic 
Encyclopedia, Volume VI, page 583, which is in the ref- 
erence department of the Public Library. 

This bell is noted as having been the one which 
inspired Longfellow's poem, The Bells of Lynn. 

st. Stephen's episcopal church 

This chime of bells was cast by Clinton H. Meneely 
& Son, Troy, N. Y., and first rung on Easter Sunday, 
April 25, 1886. 

In the tower on the first story is the following memo- 
rial plate : The bells in this tower are placed there to 
the glory of the Triune God and in sacred memory of the 
Honorable Enoch Redington Mudge, by a grateful parish. 
Laus Deo. 

The chimes consist of ten bells, which cost $5,250 and 
are as follows : 

One : E flat, the people's bell, being furnished by over 
600 subscribers ; cost $1,500, weight 3,030 pounds ; inscrip- 
tion : St. Stephen's bell. Let all the people praise Thee. 

Two : F, presented by friends of the rector. Cost 
$1,000, weight 2,025 pounds; inscription: Rector's Bell, 
Rev. Frank Louis Norton, D. D., Rector, 1866. Let 
Thy priests be clothed with righteousness. 

Three : G, presented by Honorable and Mrs. Josiah 
Chase Bennett and George Edward Barnard ; cost $750, 
weight 1,535 pounds; inscription: In Memoriam, Let 
him that heareth say come. 

Four : A flat, presented by the Sunday School and 
Judge and Mrs. Rollin E. Harmon ; cost $600, weight 
1,220 pounds; inscription : Suffer little children to come 
unto me. 



46 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

Five : B flat, presented by Mr. and Mrs. Rollin Aaron 
Spalding, in memory of their daughter Mary Jane ; 
cost $400, weight 825 pounds ; inscription : Safe in God's 
Nursery. 

Six : C, presented by John Ambrose McArthur, 
M. D. ; cost $250; weight 520 pounds. 

Seven : D flat, presented by Charles Gooch Clark ; 
cost $225 ; weight 465 pounds. 

Eight : D, presented by Benjamin Cushing Mudge in 
memory of his mother, Eliza Robinson Mudge ; cost 
$200, weight 410 pounds ; inscription : Honor thy father 
and thy mother. 

Nine : E, presented by the Dorcas Chapter of St. 
Stephen's Guild ; cost $175, weight 360 pounds ; inscrip- 
tion : She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly 
with her hands. 

Ten: F, presented by the choristers; cost $150, 
weight 310 pounds ; inscription : Gloria in Excelsis. 

These chimes served as the inspiration of several 
laudatory poems, and also developed criticisms which 
became so general that the question of the harmony of the 
chime was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. 
Thomas P. Nichols, Charles H. Aborn and William A. 
Faulkner, who made a report which was considered to be 
an endorsement of the chime as being in tune, and as far 
as known, the question remains a closed incident to those 
most concerned. 

The statements relative to this report are based on 
memory, as the original cannot be found. 

SECOND UNIVERSALIST CHURCH 

After 155 years, with the many changes in construc- 
tion resulting from the wear and tear, the ravages of decay 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 47 

and the mutations of its many parish meetings, the 
remnant of the Old Tunnel in its renewed and enlarged 
form was sold on February 14, 1837, by the First Congre- 
gational Society to the Second Christian Society, now 
known as the Second Universalist Church, under which it 
has thrived to this day. Much of the old frame in the loft, 
which was cut from oak trees growing on the Common, can 
be seen by those who will make the climb. 

This move involved also that of the old Revere bell, 
which did good service until broken by a fire alarm 
hammer in 1878. It was recast at the expense of the City 
of Lynn and raised November 20, 1878, and bears the 
following inscription : 

Cast by William Blake & Co., formerly E. N. 
Hooper & Co., A. D. 1878, Boston, Mass. This bell 
replaces one cast by Revere & Son, Boston, 1816. 

The pitch of the bell is C sharp and that of the First 
Baptist Church diagonally across the Common is the A 
below, making the chord of a third. 

When the news of the surrender of the Confederate 
forces at Vicksburg under General Pemberton to the 
Federal forces under General Grant reached Lynn early 
one evening, the celebration assumed the most noisy and 
intense character. 

The sexton of the Universalist Church decided that it 
should be kept within bounds, but the big boys acted in 
advance, went up into the belfry and attached a clothesline 
to the tongue of the bell, cast it out through the slats and 
shook it until it reached the ground, and then in turn it 
was passed up to those on the low flat roof of the adjacent 
building. Soon the bell began to ring and the sexton could 
not find the perpetrators either in the building or around it, 
as the boys were sitting upon the middle of the roof adjoin- 



48 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

ing and could not be seen from the ground in the dark. 
The report of the sexton was virtually that the bell was 
ringing out of supernatural partriotism, a very proper con- 
clusion when one reflects how many times the metal in that 
bell had been rung in the French and Indian Wars, the 
siege of Louisburg, the victories of the Revolution, coming 
to grief from celebrating the close of the War of 181 2, and 
if metal was ever endowed with animate action this appeared 
to be a proper occasion. 

TRINITY METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 

This was organized in 1857 as a mission chapel 
of the First Congregational Church, under the name of 
Tower Hill Chapel, and when it was enlarged in 1865, 
Rev. Francis Holmes, colleague pastor of the First Con- 
gregational Church, who had charge of the chapel, obtained 
subscriptions to purchase the first bell, which was originally 
on a plantation in Louisiana and used to call the slaves to 
and from their work. This bell was captured by the 
Federal troops under General Benjamin F. Butler during 
the Civil War, brought north, and ultimately sold to the 
subscribers of the Tower Hill Chapel fund. 

When the Federal troops captured New Orleans in 
May, 1862, they found a large collection of bells which 
had been contributed by churches, schools, and plantations 
all over the state to be cast into cannon for the Confederacy. 
These were confiscated and sent to the North and sold at 
public auction by the Federal Government. These bells 
were generally bought by junk dealers and by them sold 
to churches, towns and factories at bargain prices. 

At the time they were the subject of a great deal of 
comment, and several poems were written upon the subject. 
The late Captain Daniel Eldredge endeavored to compile 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 49 

an account of these present bells, of which Lynn had the 
above and also the one at Pine Grove Cemetery. 

In the spring of 1872 this chapel was sold to the 
Methodist denomination, first as a mission church and in 
the following year reorganized under its present name. 

In 1874 tn * s chapel was moved to Boston Street, near 
the foot of Perley Street, and converted into a tenement, 
and so stands to-day ; and an entirely new church was 
built on the same site and dedicated January 13, 1875. 

On this occasion a new bell was hung, which was 
paid for by general subscription throughout the neighbor- 
hood, amounting to $429. It was cast by William Blake 
& Co., formerly H. N. Hooper & Co., of Boston, in 1876 
and weighs 1,154 pounds. The old bell was broken up 
and the metal used in the casting of the new one. In 
accordance with the old superstition a large number of 
silver coins were thrown into the crucible, as it was 
believed that this mixture improved the tone of a bell. 
The bell bears the inscription : Trinity M. E. Church, 
founded A. D. 1873, Rev. A. Sanderson, pastor. Awake 
to righteousness and sin not. 

NAHANT, MASS. 

There are four churches in Nahant, two of which are 
equipped with bells. 

NAHANT CHURCH, NAHANT 

This is frequently called the Union Church. 

The original edifice was erected in 1832, and in 1834 
a bell weighing 455 pounds was hung in a tower detached 
from the church building. This bell cost $131.49, which 
was paid from the parish funds and without any outside 
subscriptions. 



50 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

This building and the belfry tower were torn down in 
1869 and the bell was rehung in the belfry of the new 
church. Inscription : George H. Holbrook, East Medway, 
Mass., 1834. 

NAHANT INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH, NAHANT 

This bell was presented by Dr. William R. Lawrence 
of Boston, September 28, 185 1. He had a summer resi- 
dence at Nahant and built the first dwelling on Little 
Nahant. 

The cost of raising the bell, amounting to $40, was 
defrayed by F. Tudor. The weight is 800 pounds. 
Inscription: Henry N. Hooper & Company, Boston, 185 1. 
Presented by Dr. William R. Lawrence to the Independent 
Methodist Church at Nahant. 

TOWN OF NAHANT 

The Town of Nahant owns two bells for fire alarm 
purposes, one being on the engine house in Nahant 
proper, and the other on the engine house at Bass Point. 

SWAMPSCOTT, MASS. 

There are six churches in Swampscott, two of which 
are equipped with bells. 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SWAMPSCOTT 

The original bell, owned by this Society, was installed 
in 1846 and cast at the foundry of T. Robinson & Co., 
successors to William Blake & Co., and was paid for by 
subscriptions solicited by the pastor at that time, Rev. 
Jonas B. Clarke. 

This bell was sold to the town of North Easton when 
this church, after remodeling, was presented with its pre- 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 5 1 

sent bell by the Phillips Brothers, Beach Bluff, Swamp- 
scott. It weighs 3,100 pounds, cost $300 and bears the 
inscription : The Phillips bell, presented by David K. 
and Leonard H. Phillips, i< 



st. john's roman catholic church, swampscott 

This bell was a gift from Mr. and Mrs. William J. 
Dooley of Boston, at that time summer residents of the 
parish. It was cast by the Meneely Bell Co. of Troy, 
N. Y., and cost $500 and weighs 1,850 pounds. It was 
blessed in the sanctuary of the church, December 8, 1906, 
by Rt. Rev. John J. Brady, auxiliary bishop of Boston, 
and it bears the following inscription : Presented to St. 
John's Church, Swampscott, Mass., by Mr. and Mrs. 
William J. Dooley, Christmas, A. D. 1906. Patrick Col- 
man, Rector. 

Critics have stated that this bell is the most perfectly 
toned bell in Greater Lynn. 

SWAMPSCOTT TOWN HALL 

The bell in the tower is used in connection with the 
town clock and the fire alarm system and is rung on all 
patriotic occasions, including the town meetings. It weighs 
3,250 pounds and cost when mounted in its position in the 
belfry, $778.35. It bears the inscription : William Blake 
& Co., Boston, 1884. 

OCEAN AVENUE FIRE ALARM, TOWN OF SWAMPSCOTT 

Fire alarm station, Ocean Avenue. Bell weighs 790 
pounds. Inscription: Meneely Bell Co., Troy, N. Y., 
A. D. 1900. 



52 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

SAUGUS, MASS. 

This town has seven churches, three of which are 
equipped with bells. 

CLIFTONDALE SCHOOL, CLIFTONDALE, SAUGUS 

This bell was bought by the town, which appropriated 
$600 for the purpose. Inscription : 

Blake Bell Co., 
Boston, Mass., 

1895 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CLIFTONDALE, 
SAUGUS 

This bell was presented by the late Charles H. Bond 
who also contributed half the cost of the church, organ 
and clock. The bell bears the inscription : 

McShane Bell Foundry 

Baltimore, Md. 

1892 

ESSEX STREET SCHOOLHOUSE, CLIFTONDALE, SAUGUS 

The bell is also connected with the fire-alarm, as are 
other school bells in Saugus. 
Inscription on bell : 

William N. Blake & Co. 

Formerly H. N. Hooper & Co. 

1886 

LINCOLN AVENUE SCHOOLHOUSE, CLIFTONDALE, SAUGUS 

This bell was purchased by subscription and with the 
stipulation that the Methodist Society should have the 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 53 

privilege of using the bell to announce the services in their 
church, which was near by. As the church has been 
recently burned, the bell is now used only for school 
purposes. The inscription on the bell is : 

H. N. Hooper Co. 
Boston 

1877 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, EAST SAUGUS 

The money to purchase this bell was raised by an 
organization of the ladies connected with this church, 
called the Ladies' Bell Society, although the actual name 
was the Church Improvement Society. They met fort- 
nightly at each other's houses at i P. M., and during the 
afternoon and evening bound shoes at five and six cents 
per pair, and in the year 1850 they had $409 in the bank, 
but it was not until 1855, when the old church had been 
removed and a new church built on its site, that the bell 
was placed in its position and rung at the dedication, 
February 22, 1855. 

This bell is also connected with a clock which was 
presented to the church by the Honorable Horace H. 
Atherton in honor of James Sylvester Oliver, Mrs. Hannah 
Preston Atherton and Miss Edith Rutledge Atherton, as is 
stated on a bronze tablet in the main entrance of the church. 
This clock was started for the first time May 10, 1914. 

MANSFIELD SCHOOL, EAST SAUGUS 

Inscription on bell : 

G. H. Holbrook 

Medway 

1838. 



54 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, SAUGUS CENTER 

At the time of the dedication of this church, Septem- 
ber 15, 1852, Rev. Levi Brigham, D. D., referred to the 
contributions for the bell, which cost $300, and was given 
by 47 donors, of which the pastor of the church was the 
largest contributor, and they had received a vote of thanks 
from the parish August 16, 1852, as the bell was finished 
and delivered in advance of the time when it was required 
for use in the new church as stated above. This bell was 
cracked July 4, 1869, and recast in the following year. 

The condition governing this gift was that if this 
church ever changed its creed, the bell should pass to the 
ownership of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society 
and by it be given to some other church of that faith. 
Inscription : 

Cast by William Blake & Co., 

Formerly H. N. Hooper & Co., 

Boston, A. D., 

1870 

LYNNFIELD, MASS. 

Each of the two churches in this town is equipped 
with a bell. 

LYNNFIELD CENTRE 

There is a bell belonging to the fire department on 
the building of Chemical No. 2, a gift of the ladies of 
South Lynnfield to the town. 

ORTHODOX EVANGELICAL CHURCH, LYNNFIELD CENTER 

This church was organized in 1849, and the bell 
was placed in the belfry on November 26, 1852, weighs 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 55 

1,040 pounds and its dominant note is B flat. The money 
was obtained by the ladies by popular subscription through 
an organization known as the Ladies' Circle, Miss Anna 
Bryant and Mrs. Catherine Perkins being the prime 
movers. The town later conceded that the church owned 
the bell, although the town paid for years for the ringing 
of the curfew. This was the first bell in Lynnfield except 
a small bell which was formerly upon the Hawkes Woolen 
Mill at the outlet of Pillings Pond and the site of the 
present Gerry's cider mill. The inscription is : 

Cast by George H. Holbrook 

East Medway, Mass. 

1852 

SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, LYNNFIELD 

This society was organized September 27, 1832, and 
the bell was procured from the church at Wenham Square 
and moved and raised by A. Newhall, June 22, 1866. 
The expenses of transportation and raising the bell were 
furnished by subscription among the townspeople. 
Weight, 830 pounds ; inscription : 

Cast by Henry N. Hooper & Co., 

Boston, 

1851 

WAKEFIELD, MASS. 

This town has four churches equipped with bells. 

BAPTIST CHURCH, WAKEFIELD 

Bell was installed in 1872 ; cast by Meneely Bell Co., 
Troy, N. Y. ; dominant note, E flat. 



56 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, WAKEFIELD 

The bell is made of cast steel and not of the bronze 
generally used for bells. Its dominant note is F and the 
timbre is harsh in tone. The inscription is : 

Sheffield E. Riepel's Patent cast steel, 
Naylor, Vickers & Co., 

1859. 

No. 992. 

FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, WAKEFIELD 

The bell strikes the hours for the town clock. Its 
dominant note is G, and the weight of the bell is 1,819 
pounds and that of the tongue 40 pounds. It was presented 
by Solon O. Richardson, M. D., as stated below. The 
inscription is as follows : Cast by Henry N. Hooper & 
Co., Boston. Presented to the First Universalist Society 
in South Reading, Mass., by Solon O. Richardson, M. D., 
March 2, A. D. 1859. 

GREENWOOD UNION CHURCH, WAKEFIELD 

This bell is on a fire engine house, and is used in 
part for church purposes. The inscription is as follows : 
Cast by William Blake & Co., formerly H. N. Hooper 
& Co., Boston, Mass., 1874. 

WAKEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL, WAKEFIELD 

This bell is No. 154 on the stock book of Paul Revere 
and was cast by him for the First Parish Church, Septem- 
ber 18, 1815. 

The weight of this bell was given as 907 pounds, and it 
is assumed that the Old Tunnel bell on Lynn Common 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 57 

(No. 171) was of duplicate pattern on account of the 
coincidence in weight, which is entered on the stock book 
as 905 pounds. 

Dr. Arthur H. Nichols in his monograph upon the 
Revere bells traces the history of this bell, which is the only 
one of four cast at this foundry for the Greater Lynn 
which still remains in service. 

It was placed in the belfry of the First Parish Church, 
for which it was cast, and when the church was remod- 
elled in 1859 this bell was placed in the belfry of the Town 
Hall, where it remained until that building was pulled down 
in 1898, when the bell was hung upon the High School, 
and is connected with the fire alarm apparatus. 

The town is to celebrate the bell's centennial this year, 
and it is proposed to take the bell from the High School 
and install it in the tower of the Town Hall, whence it could 
be heard for miles around. 

The inscription is as follows : 

Paul Revere & Son, 
Boston, 1815. 

READING, MASS. 

Reading has six churches, two of which are now 
equipped with bells, but through destruction by fire and 
changes in the occupation of various meetinghouses, the 
number to be considered is greater. 

BETHESDA CHURCH, READING 

This church separated from the First Congregational 
Church, April 23, 1849, and the committee chose between 
two bells which were offered by taking the one giving the 
largest volume of tone. This bell weighs 1,934 pounds 



58 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

and cost $637.84 and was purchased by a vote of the parish 
January 14, 1850. 

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, READING 

Reference has been made to the choice of the bell for 
the Bethesda Church and when this Baptist Church was 
seeking a bell, one of the committee interviewed the 
Baptist Church Committee and urged them to secure the 
rejected bell and place it in the Salem Street Baptist 
Church. It was later removed to the new church of 
the Society on Woburn Street. It was cracked by exces- 
sive ringing on July 4, 1905, sold for old metal, and was 
not renewed. 

OLD SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, READING 

The earliest bell in Reading was purchased from Paul 
Revere and was the one noted on his stock book as No. 
186, weighing 1,179 pounds and cast October 28, 1817. 
This bell was not satisfactory and at a parish meeting held 
March 16, 1823, it was voted that the assessors be a com- 
mittee to alter the tongue of the bell. This change failed 
to make the bell satisfactory, and in October, 1825, a 
committee was chosen to procure a new one between the 
limits of 800 and 1,000 pounds. 

In March, 1826, the committee reported that they 
had sold the old bell and procured a new bell weighing 
1,004 pounds at an expense of $130. The result was 
still unsatisfactory and the parish voted for a further 
exchange and in March, 1827, the committee reported 
that they had exchanged the bell for one weighing 1,557 
pounds at a further expense of $208. 

The ringing of this heavy bell threatened the stability 
of the tower and on July 18, 1830, it was voted to dispose 



LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 59 

of this bell and to purchase a new one of 1,000 pounds, 
which was done in 183 1. 

There is not any information who was the maker of 
any of these subsequent bells, but as there is not any 
mention on the Paul Revere stock book, they were 
undoubtedly procured from other parties. 

The Old South Congregational Church reunited with 
the Bethesda Church, February 25, 1886. 

The whole story of the present bell in the Congre- 
gational Church at Reading is told by the following 
inscription : 

Presented to the 

Congregational Society 

Reading, Mass. 

by Miss L. A. Hopkins in joyful 

memory of Mrs. Mary W. Pratt 

A. D. 1910 

"Let him that heareth say Come" 

Founders Meneely Bell Company 

Troy, N. Y. 

OLD SOUTH METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, READING 

The Methodist Society bought the meeting-house of 
the Old South Congregational Parish at the time when the 
Old South Church reunited with the Bethesda Church, and 
the bell, weighing 1,224 pounds, bore the inscription : 

Reading, Massachusetts, 
October, 1906. 

This bell was purchased by the Old South Methodist 
Episcopal Society and interested citizens of the town for 
the benefit of all. 

This bell was destroyed in the fire which burned the 



60 LYNN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

meetinghouse December 9, 191 1 and a new bell weigh- 
ing 1,555 pounds was placed in the new church and bears 
the quite similar inscription : 

Reading, Massachusetts, 
A. D., 1912 

This bell and clock was purchased by the Old South 
Methodist Episcopal Society and interested citizens of the 
town for the benefit of all. 

CONCLUSION 

This concludes the annals of all the facts which I 
have been able to secure relative to the bells of the greater 
Lynn. This compilation has been attended with many 
difficulties because of the deficiency of recorded evidence, 
even on parish records and files of contemporary news- 
papers which have been carefully searched in Public 
Libraries. The recollections of various persons have been 
so conflicting in many instances that the above record has 
been selected from some of many diverse statements. 

It is sincerely hoped by the writer that this paper will 
be the suggestion for compilations of the history of bells in 
other towns, for the relation of church bells to religious 
devotions and also the proper remembrance of the sacri- 
fices or the beneficences of those to whom the adjacent 
communities are indebted for bells are subjects of local 
history which have rarely received due recognition. 



MAY 10 !Si5 



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